ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. _ A 15-year-old boy was gunned down before sunup Friday when someone fired a flurry of shots into a home in the north St. Louis County area of Glasgow Village.
A relative at the scene identified the boy as Antione Brown, which police confirmed Friday afternoon. He was shot to death about 5:30 a.m. in north St. Louis County.
Police said someone outside fired into the home, hitting the boy; he died at the scene.
St. Louis County Police Sgt. Benjamin Granda said police don't think it was a random shooting, although investigators haven't said why they think that.
Relatives of the boy say that he had recently been receiving threats via social media.
Proof of the flurry of shots was clearly visible on the street, where crime-scene technicians had placed nearly a dozen evidence markers along Ross Circle, a dead-end road of modest homes.
Hours after the shooting, as police canvassed the neighborhood, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell arrived to talk with police about the teen's death.
"They keep getting younger and younger," Bell told reporters. "Obviously, it's tragic. It's something we're going to have to deal with as a region. And that means, and I've said this before but: All hands on deck."
A woman who owns property on Ross Circle knew the boy and called him sweet. The woman said she helped the boy by paying his football fees. "He was a good kid, to me," said the woman, who asked that her name be withheld because she was fearful. "He called me grandma, and I called him baby. He was always respectful, mannerable."
The last time she saw Antione, she had come to the block to check on her tenants and he was sitting on his front porch waiting for his mother. "He said, please be safe, grandma." She said his meaning was obvious to her. "We're black," she said, "and it's crazy out there."
Antione, who went by the nickname Bruh Bruh, is at least the seventh child to die from gunshot wounds in St. Louis County this year; St. Louis city has had at least 13 children killed by gunfire this year.
A spokesman for the Riverview Gardens School District said Antione attended the district's alternative learning program. Earlier he attended Central Middle School and Riverview Gardens High School. The district's crisis response team will be available to help students and staff deal with their grief, he said.
Bell, the prosecutor, stood in front of the crime-scene tape and told reporters that the community has to step up. "We can't work in our silos, we have to look at not only how we deal with serious crime but we have to look at the preventive measures that we can implement to avoid these situations."
Bell wouldn't say anything about the crime itself or whether the boy was targeted, saying instead that he wanted to give police time to complete their investigation.
